


Floating

by Gorgeous Nerd (gorgeousnerd)



Series: Kink Bingo 2011 [2]
Category: Fringe
Genre: Chromatic Character, Community: kink_bingo, F/F, International Day of Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-17
Updated: 2011-07-17
Packaged: 2017-10-21 11:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gorgeousnerd/pseuds/Gorgeous%20Nerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Astrid bites her lip and looks at the tank.  It doesn't look like much from the outside.  It never has to Astrid.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Floating

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [International Day of Femslash](http://www.femslashday.com/) 2011 and for the "sensory deprivation" square on my [](http://kink-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**kink_bingo**](http://kink-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) [card](http://firmament.dreamwidth.org/36661.html). Also on [LJ](http://chomalfoyfics.livejournal.com/44727.html) and [DW](http://firmament.dreamwidth.org/38140.html).

It takes Astrid a good five minutes after she walks in the lab to notice the beakers and papers floating in the air. It takes her several moments more to remember it isn't normal.

"Walter?" Astrid asks. He doesn't answer.

Astrid considers taking observational notes - maybe Walter's running some kind of experiment - when she hears a thump in the tank, and everything falls to the ground. The beakers shatter.

"Who's there?"

Astrid turns to the now-open door of the tank. "Is everything okay?"

Olivia's head sticks out, hair and skin damp. She smiles. "Yeah. Sorry, did I scare you?"

"No," Astrid says. Startle, maybe. But never scare. "I've seen weirder things than floating beakers."

Olivia's face brightens. "I was doing something?"

Astrid points to the ground in front of the tank. There's shattered glass spread on the floor. "More than just something."

Olivia sits on the edge. She's wearing a black one-piece swimsuit instead of the underwear Astrid usually sees her in. "I should get a broom."

"No, no." Astrid holds up a hand and goes for the cleaning supplies. "You'll cut your feet. I have shoes."

"It's my mess."

"There's no blood or viscera of any kind," Astrid says. "Really, I don't mind."

She sweeps for a moment, and Olivia watches in silence. Astrid realizes she can hear the water lap in the tank as Olivia shifts positions.

"What were you doing?" Astrid asks. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Nothing much."

"Really?"

"It's...kind of hard to understand."

Astrid's willing to let it drop, and Olivia seems the same way: she pulls her ponytail over her shoulder and wrings it out. But when her hair's dripping less, she says, "They had a tank over there. It wasn't like this one. They had glass they could darken and undarken, and they hooked me up to an oxygen feed, since my head was below water."

Astrid stops sweeping for a moment. "Sounds scary."

"Definitely," Olivia says. "But I guess that's what I need. To get my powers working."

Astrid's hands itch for a clipboard, but she starts sweeping again, crouching to brush glass into a dustpan. "When did you start?"

"Couple weeks ago. This is the first time anything's happened."

"You've been doing this for a couple weeks and I haven't seen you?" Astrid's surprised she caught her today, actually; it's a free Saturday, and she's usually very good about spending those at home.

Olivia grins. "Even you sleep sometimes."

Astrid laughs a little and dumps the glass in a trash can. "So were you scared this time?"

"Have you ever been in the tank?"

"No," Astrid says. She's filled it, and cleaned it out. But there's always been a boundary line. She assists Walter; she doesn't participate.

Olivia points to a chair. "Hand me the towel?"

Astrid does, and when Olivia's wiping down her skin, she says, "The water's warm. There's nothing to see, practically nothing to feel. It's hard to be scared without the end of the world knocking, you know?"

"I guess," Astrid says.

Olivia climbs out, water splashing as she does. "I'll wash off. Thanks for cleaning up."

Astrid eyes the tank after Olivia leaves for the lab's shower. But she shakes her head and closes the doors.

-

Astrid dreams.

She's in the lab. Walter's talking, a loud constant noise she can't understand, and Charlie's there, talking over him and just as hard to understand. Peter's a body on the table, and Olivia floats above him, hair floating around her in a wreath. She looks up at Astrid and smiles, and the noise dims a little.

"I can't stop it entirely," she says. "Not yet."

Astrid nods, and she climbs, fully clothed, into the tank. She floats. The lights dim and disappear, the sound fades to nothing, and she doesn't even feel the wet blouse clinging to her skin.

She floats until she wakes up.

-

She's no great dream analyzer, but some things are easy to read.

Sunday's free again, and when Astrid texts her, Olivia says she's catching up on paperwork. Astrid doesn't know whether she's putting her off or not, but she seemed comfortable enough.

So Astrid doesn't feel too weird about showing up at Harvard and making a beeline for the lab. It doesn't mean she doesn't lock the door when she's inside, though.

She puts her hair in a cap and plugs in her ears while she waits for the water to warm, and places her towel on the chair Olivia used. She showers, not using a bathing suit; she hasn't been to the beach in a while, and she hasn't been shopping even longer, so the ones she has are falling apart.

Besides, she's read tanks are better when used nude. She wonders if Olivia knows.

The water's perfectly room temperature when she goes back and sticks her hand in. It feels a little colder when she sits inside, but she adjusts quickly. Her wet fingers don't grab the metal doors well; it takes a moment to get them closed and to lie back and let the water still. The sloshing rings in her ears because she's half-sitting still, so she lets herself slip under.

It's dark. And she can't hear.

Astrid tries to focus on her breathing. It's probably echoing against the metal, shuddering and forced. She can hear the barest hint of noise as she raises her hand and grazes it over the side, but she might as well have her eyes closed.

There's a sliver of light at the bottom of the doors. She sits up and goes to it.

-

 _I think I did it wrong._ The text's off before Astrid realizes she didn't specify.

 _did what wrong?_

 _The tank._

Astrid's phone buzzes, and she picks up. "Olivia?"

"Hey. You feeling okay?"

She hugs her towel closer around her. "Yeah. I don't know."

"If I'd known you were trying it, I would've warned you."

"Warned me?"

"It's...well. You weren't on anything, were you?"

Astrid laughs. She knows better than to raid Walter's chemicals when he isn't around. Or when he is, sometimes. "No."

"Yeah, I'm not recommending it. But it wasn't like I could run away, either."

"I thought it'd be relaxing."

"It can be." Olivia's quiet for a minute. "Are you still in the lab?"

"Yeah. I'm drying off."

"I can be there in ten minutes. If you want to try again."

Astrid bites her lip and looks at the tank. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It never has to Astrid.

"Sure," she says.

-

It's only when Olivia walks in and carefully directs her gaze to the floor that Astrid realizes she's only wearing the towel. When Astrid doesn't blush or adjust, Olivia looks back.

"How do you want to do this?" Olivia asks.

Astrid hands her the towel and grabs the earplugs from the table. "Open the doors if I ask, I guess."

"I can do that." Olivia takes the towel and smiles reassuringly.

Astrid rolls the plugs, slips them back in her ears, and waits for them to expand. The ambient noise in the room - the humming computers, Gene's quieting mooing - mutes, and Astrid climbs in the tank. The water laps at her skin as she settles.

Olivia gives her a questioning thumbs-up. Astrid gives thumbs-up back and closes her eyes.

She floats.

Astrid knows some people see colors, or have visions. Olivia's brain unlocks in a way that Astrid will probably never fully understand. But Astrid's nothing but drifting thought, anchored by the occasional picture of Olivia sitting outside, watching the doors without seeing what's inside.

She doesn't know when she comes back to herself, fuzzy-headed and a little restless. But when she shifts, Olivia opens the doors, and Astrid squints against the light.

"Good?" Olivia asks, once Astrid takes her earplugs out.

Astrid smiles. "Good."


End file.
